KEY POINTS:
ADELAIDE - It took a big injury scare, three bowling spells and a nudge from New Zealand teammate Jacob Oram for Shane Bond to finally enter the cricket record books in Adelaide yesterday.
The gun fast bowler became the second-fastest player in one-day international history, and 12th New Zealander, to reach 100 wickets when he had England tailender Monty Panesar caught by a tumbling Nathan Astle.
It was Bond's 54th ODI, meaning he was just pipped by Pakistani spinner Saqlain Mushtaq who reached his century in 53rd appearance.
But it was a small victory over Bond's rival Australian speedster Brett Lee who dropped to third, having taken 55 matches to bring up three figures.
A week ago it looked an unlikely feat as he sat glumly on a flight from Hobart to Sydney with what was feared to be a back stress fracture after leaving the field against England.
After scans gave him the all-clear, he roared into life in the SCG nets on Saturday and insisted he was fit enough to play at the Adelaide Oval despite team management saying he wouldn't return until the Perth leg this weekend.
At the scene of his five for 25 against Australia in 2002 he returned, reached 150km/h and unsettled the England top-order but James Franklin took the spoils with the first three wickets to fall.
It didn't seem Bond's day, he bowled a five-over spell then returned for three more, but nothing as fellow returnee and good mate Oram notched his 100th first in his 88th match.
With England on the ropes, captain Stephen Fleming threw the ball to his master finisher and Bond scraped home with the fourth ball of his 10th over to Panesar, then added the icing with the winning wicket of Jon Lewis caught by Fleming next ball.
Fleming said his star paceman appeared to come through well but will only play one of the Perth double-headers, either Australia on Sunday or England next Tuesday.
"I think he's okay, he was delighted with his 100," Fleming said.
"I felt it was coming through nicely. The key is how he backs up with only a day in between and that was the trap we fell into in the first game."
List of leading New Zealand wicket-takers in one-day internationals (matches played in brackets):
Chris Harris 203 (250), Chris Cairns 200 (214), Daniel Vettori 172 (181), Richard Hadlee 158 (115), Ewen Chatfield 142 (115), Danny Morrison 126 (96), Martin Snedden 114 (93), Gavin Larsen 113 (121), Scott Styris 106 (118), Chris Pringle 103 (64), Shane Bond 101 (54), Jacob Oram 100 (88).
- NZPA
